Guy Colleau: “You need the brick and the click”

The Dutch DIY retail group Maxeda is aiming for an online share of 12 per cent of total sales. Its current online share has doubled in the last four years to around 6 to 8 per cent. "We expect to continue that trend," Maxeda CEO Guy Colleau said on the Global DIY Network. John Herbert, general secretary of the international home improvement retail association Edra/Ghin, met Colleau on the internet platform for his 16th interview in the series "Meet the CEO".

Maxeda operates three DIY sales channels, the Praxis chain of 192 medium-sized DIY stores in the Netherlands and 136 stores under the Brico brand in Belgium (and Luxembourg) as well as 13 Brico Planit stores in Belgium. Franchised stores contribute about 20 per cent of sales, while 80 per cent comes from stores operated by the company itself.

In the interview with John Herbert, Guy Colleau made it clear that, despite the strong growth of e-commerce, he sees the stationary trade as the most important pillar of the DIY business. Colleau confessed he had never believed that the whole business would go digital. The reason is that "we are making a very complex business", he said. Both aspects are necessary: "You need the brick and the click, not just the click," says Colleau with conviction.